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LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 12 UC San Diego men's water polo team will travel to Long Beach on Saturday and Sunday to take part in the annual Socal Tournament, hosted by Long Beach State. UCSD will open the tournament at 9:50 a.m. against No. 8 UC Santa Barbara.

SOCAL TOURNAMENT
The Socal Tournament in Long Beach is a 16-team invitational divided into four different groups. UCSD is in Group B along with UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Air Force. The Tritons will open the tournament at 9:50 a.m. against UCSB. The winners of UCLA-Air Force and UCSD-UCSB will face each other later in the afternoon, while the loser of each match will play. The teams will then be grouped according to where they finish in their particular group on Saturday. The top team in each group will play for first place on Sunday while the second place teams in each group will play for fifth place. The third place and fourth place teams of each group will play for ninth and 13th place, respectively, on Sunday.

GOING BACK IN TIME
UCSD went 3-1 during 2010's edition of the Socal Invitational to earn ninth-place honors. The Tritons opened with a 22-12 loss to Stanford before taking down Concordia 11-7 in the second game of the tournament. UCSD's third contest turned out to be a close one, as Brian Donohoe scored with 51 seconds remaining to give the Tritons an 8-7 edge over Pepperdine. The final match of the tournament would be a clash with WWPA-rival Loyola Marymount, where the teams would take a 6-6 game into the final quarter. Ryan Allred scored and UCSD held LMU scoreless over the final eight minutes to give the Tritons a 7-6 win- their only win over the Lions in the last five contests between the teams.

LION KINGS
Perpetual WWPA champion Loyola Marymount got the best of UCSD last Thursday at Canyonview in front of 1,303 fans. Graham Saber registered his sixth hat trick of the year and David Higginson tallied a pair of goals, but LMU used a third-quarter rally to dig the Tritons into a hole. Four LMU players recorded multiple goals in the match. UCSD would outscore LMU 5-2 in the final quarter to bring the final score line within two, 12-10, in favor of the Lions.

HIGH FLYIN' IN COLORADO
UCSD made easy work of Air Force on Friday night in Colorado Springs, out-muscling the Falcons for a 13-6 win. Matthew Michalko registered a hat trick while Brian Donohoe, John Butler and Graham Saber tallied two goals apiece. The teams battled to a 3-3 tie after the first quarter, but the Tritons would out-score the Falcons 10-2 over the second and third quarters. UCSD head coach Denny Harper used a "six-for-six" method to substitute his team and keep them fresh in the thin air, meaning Harper subbed all six players in the pool for six new players on the bench every time the opportunity presented itself. The Air Force Academy is at an altitude of 8,200 feet.

PLAYING FOR A CAUSE
Last Thursday's UCSD-LMU match at Canyonview also served as Beat Cancer Night, as both head coaches have been affected by the disease. Denny Harper recently defeated breast cancer and LMU's John Laughran has dealt with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Donations were accepted on the behalf of Camp Reach for the Sky- a local charity run by the American Cancer Society that gives children with cancer ages 4-18 and their siblings a chance to attend a free summer camp. The money raised for Camp Reach for the Sky was highlighted by a $1,000 donation from Sunset Water Polo Club.

FOLLOW THE TRITONS
There are now more ways than ever to follow the Tritons. Of course, you've always got ucsdtritons.com at your fingertips, but our social media scene is growing by the hour. Get instant updates on Twitter and like us on Facebook. For a more visual approach, watch us on YouTube. We recently reached 1,000 followers on our Twitter account, @UCSDathletics, and awarded a lucky fan with four free tickets to any UCSD home contest during the 2011-12 school year. Be sure to follow us all year for more great giveaways!